Thor's travels

Ice bar

2009-09-07T22:52:00.000+09:00

The last day was spent shopping some more in Shillim and the COEX mall. In the evening we finally had Korean beef BBQ for dinner, an absolute must for any Korea visit. In the evening we ended up in the sub zero ice bar in Hongdae. Another one of those places I have always wanted to see, but would never have expected in Seoul: a bar entirely made of ice. Walls, decoration, glasses, everything - and minus five degrees inside. Sadly, we were so late that we soon turned out to be the last and only customers. At least this gave us plenty of room for pictures :)

Seoul and more

2009-09-07T22:46:00.000+09:00

We spent the next day visiting the demilitarized zone, trying on traditional clothing in Insadong, a quick stop at the SNU and clubbing in the NB club in Gangnam. Another led us to explore the Deoksugung palace, stroll along the Cheonggyecheon stream, look for traditional souveniers in Insadong, have stuffed chicken for dinner, drink Dongdongju in our little traditional bar in Nok-Du and spend the night in the Cocoon club in Hongdae. Yet another day we were lucky enough to visit Samcheongdong with Jerang and her sister Lydia. Thanks to our knowledgable tour guides we got to have a great lunch and a very traditional Korean desert: sweet & warm bean soup. Way better than it sounds. Sadly, we had to part eventually to get the last tour through Biwon (the secret garden). On the way back home we got the chance to witness a Buddhist prayer service in the Jogyesa temple.

Rafting

2009-09-07T22:28:00.002+09:00

Something I always wanted to do, but never got around to it, I finally did here in Korea as a group trip: rafting. It was as awesome as one could have wanted. Two days of heavy rain had paid off by raising the water level significantly making the trip quite a bit more exciting than it might have been otherwise. Either way the surrounding nature was absolutely gorgeous. Other than rafting trips the place also offered freshly harvested chilis. Upon returning to Seoul, we toured Namdaemun, Myeong-dong and ended up in building 63 for another drink with a glorius view of the city at night.

Katrin's visit

2009-09-06T22:21:00.000+09:00

The next day, the next highlight: Katrin came by to visit Seoul for a week. Sadly, her arrival was accompanied by the heaviest rainfall I had seen in Korea so far - including my last visit and any conferences. It rained when I got up, poured on the way to the airport and did not stop for two days straight. The little creek running past Nok-Du had turned into a raging river on the evening of the first day. So we were forced to tour Seoul indoors. This meant COEX mall and Samsung tower on the first day and Lotte World on the second. Finally, in the afternoon of the second day the skies cleared a bit and we were able to enjoy an amazing view of Seoul from the Gyrodrop tower, before plummeting toward the bottom at a speed that took your breath away. In the evening we walked around Dongdaemun and ended up in Doota for some very late night and early morning shopping.

Colleagues

2009-08-27T22:29:00.002+09:00

Highlights continued from day to day as on Monday Christoph & Ann had an 18 hour stop in Seoul on their way back from Australia. We met up in the evening for a Korean BBQ dinner, a quick stroll through the city and finally a drink in the bar of the Samsung tower. Only negative part of the evening was that at the end of the day I had to find out that the bathroom in their youth hostel room made mine here look pretty pathetic...

River cruise & concert

2009-08-27T22:11:00.004+09:00

On Sunday I managed to convice everyone to go on a Han river cruise, or rather a 70 minute boat trip. Weather was wonderful, but the view was not a impressive as I had hoped, since it's hard to see past the first row of buildings. The view of Yeouido was already worth the trip, however. And, of course, the boat ride got us closer to the olympic park, where Jeannette & I had tickets for the Lady Gaga concert!!! It was amazing. First, the olympic park was quite nice and the olympic hall turned out to be nicely cooled and rather crowded. Then came a pretty decent Korean singer for 30-45 minutes and finally Lady Gaga. The crowd was in a fantastic mood: jumping, dancing, screaming, singing along and Lady Gaga, well - what can you say? The music is way better than I expected and even her outfits were more crazy than I would have imagined. All in all an awesome show. I hope I'll manage to visit another music event before I leave. Btw: if you are wondering, what happend to my camera, that I can take such awesome pics of Lady Gaga on stage, the answer is: nothing. They were taken by Jeannette :)

More Germans

2009-08-27T21:57:00.002+09:00

First off: I have not died nor lost connection to the internet, times were simply a bit busy in the past weeks and I'll try to catch up on the blogging. First thing that happened was that finally some other Germans arrived here, more precisely five DAAD students. Jeannette works in the same group as me and also came to visit the office on her first day. Thereafter, we met the others for some mandu. The next day we toured around Seoul, found cool bathroom signs in the Deoksugung palace, saw the changing of the guard including traditional musicians playing on huge mussel shells. Then we toured the Seoul plaza, the little river and the Insadong area to finally return to Nok-Du for some dak-calbi :)

Culture day

2009-08-05T00:33:00.004+09:00

On Sunday it was still greyish with the permanent threat of severe rainfalls, so I decided for a more or less indoor tour. I started by taking the Metro to seodaemun, where the independence park and gate, honoring the Korean freedom fighters against Japanes oppresion, are located. Close by is the seodaemun prison history hall, a former prison complex built entirely out of red brick by the Japanese to imprison, torture and execute members of the Korean resistance. As is apparent from the description of the events that have happened here, wounds caused by the Japanes rule have not yet healed. Next stop for me was the Deoksugung palace, which turned out to be the main palace, that I have already visited during the my first conference tour here. Since I was also surprised by heavy rain, I decided to explore the palace museum instead and have a traditional dinner in the cafeteria. As on Saturday, the weather cleared in the evening and I took a stroll along the Cheonggyecheon stream only to find a photo exhibition regarding the Korean war. Quite fascinating black and white pictures probably taken by someone accompanying the NATO forces. All in all a very instructive day.

Rainy days

2009-08-02T23:25:00.006+09:00

I was wondering when I would find out why this is called the rain season in Korea. Saturday I found out. When I left my apartment it was pouring. Despite my umbrella, remaining dry was impossible. Streets turned into rivers and there was no sign of stopping. Staying indoors seemed like the thing to do, so I headed for the COEX to visit the aquarium. Despite the fact, that the rain had pretty much stopped when I arrived, it wasn't such a bad idea at all. The aquarium featured all kinds of things from piranhas over moray eels, beavers, sharks and lots of little colorful fish to crocodiles actually getting along well with giant turtles. Not to mention the fancy Korean burger place 'kraze burger' not too far away from its exit ;)

Random little things

2009-08-02T22:27:00.006+09:00

It may seem hard to believe, but I do not spend every day exploring yet another amazing temple, shopping center, recreational area or district of the city - especially on weekdays ;)
So I figured it might be worth pointing out a few of the little things that make the days here different from those at home. The first is simply a quite improvised street sale of melons. The second is - since I decided not to spend so much time on food - one of my most favorite drinks. Iced Kiwi juice. It consits of ice and at least one full kiwi and maybe more depending on where one buys it. Certainly tastes very fruity or better: kiwiy. Third is one of many impressive-looking motels, which seem to pop out all over Seoul at night. Fourth is a royal seal of some sort. It made it into this blog to mention the fact, that official documents here are not signed by the person occupying the required position - for example the dean of a university - but instead carry a seal corresponding to that position. Looks a bit more stylish than a simple signature.

The secret garden

2009-07-28T21:50:00.006+09:00

Sunday, I finally fulfilled my wish to see Biwon, or as it is referred to more often in tour guides: the secret garden. It is one of the few places that may only be visited with a tour guide since it is so exceptionally beautiful and also quite close to the Chong Wa Dae, the official residence of the Korean president. On my way there I came past a wedding cultural hall, the significance of which becomes particularly apparent, when one is aware of the fact that 25% of Korean are Buddhists another 25% percent Christians and the rest doesn't stick to any organized religion. Upon arrival at the Changdeokgung palace, whose grounds contain the secret garden, I was delighted to find out that English tours were more common than Chinese ones. Nonetheless, there were only three per day and I had to pass some time before I could enter. The only slight disadvantage to this palace is that even the English tour attracts quite a few people as I thought I'd demonstrate in the first picture of the palace grounds. Inside the palace which actually served as the main palace of the emperor for a few hundred years one can see the throne along with many traditional wooden buildings with beautiful rooftops holding little statues to ward off evil. The true treasure of this palace is the secret garden, however, which perfectly blends into the surrounding nature and emanates an aura of peace and quiet. Walking through the secret garden means wandering through the forest, past ponds, beautiful flowers and ancient trees. A very kind couple also made it possible to show you the first proof that I am actually here. Looking back, it was probably the most beautiful palace in Seoul. Another advantage is the proximity to Insadong, Seoul's shopping street for traditional items and self-made sweets. It was there that I met a friend of mine from the student days in Santa Cruz. An American who studied with me in Santa Cruz, currently on vacation in Korea, while actually working in Vietnam on a documentary film. How amazing is that? The evening continued with a California roll sushi dinner and a well-deserved first cold stone icecream of this visit.

Lotte...

2009-07-26T23:50:00.005+09:00

Last year we had been to Namdaemun, Dongdaemun, the I-Park Mall and the COEX, but we had never gone out of our way to visit Lotte World, Lotte World Department Store and Lotte World Hotel. This had to change and so I went there on Saturday afternoon. Stepping out of the subway I was immediately overwhelmed by the shiny entrance area of Lotte department store, mart, world, hotel etc. underground with no obvious way to the surface nearby. Instead, I was welcomed by a fancy fountain with greek-style statues and made my way through an array glittering stores toward Lotte world. It was quite an amazing sight. There is a huge ice-skating rink on the bottom floor along with an entire amusement park on the top floor, all combined under a huge glass roof. Needless to say, there was also a bowling alley, a swimming pool, a movie theater and an impressive number of restaurants. Among them everything from Lotteria, a Lotte fast-food burger chain, to a Mövenpick Marché (!!!), a rather upper class buffet restaurant, which I thought existed only in Germany. Making my way to the surface I passed Star Avenue, an entertainment venue geared toward marketing Korea's most sought-after stars. Finally on the surface I was to be amazed yet again by an artificial island in the middle of a lake connected by a tram to Lotte World. The island featured all kinds of different rides as well as fantasy castles and bars. I returned inside to go up to the 12th level of the Lotte department store, unable to leave without spending a little money, and ended my trip peeking into the - as my map likes to call it - 'super deluxe' Lotte World hotel. I returned to Nok-Du with a little side trip via Apgujeong, intent on watching a movie in the huge Cine City, but sadly I either knew the english movies or did not want to see them (Harry Potter occupies way too many theaters) so I just strolled down Rodeo street and returned home.

Mackerel & Mandu

2009-07-21T21:49:00.005+09:00

Well, so it goes. Maybe I should put food in the title after all. But before doing that I'd like to share an impression of Seoul as seen from a restaurant in the I-Park mall. Note how hazy it is. It is also so humid that no matter what you do outside, you will be sweating - yes, sitting around doing nothing also works ;)
Anyhow, as of today I now truly have everything I need: a Korean keyboard, liquid soap, a big towel that never dries and soon internet access in the office. So I was quite happy on my way to lunch, when I had to notice that my open-mindedness toward food had taken a step back during my time in Germany. My colleagues insisted, however, that I should try the mackerel covered by red sauce and so I did. Uncertain of my future and slightly hesitant I got it, took a picture of it and started eating. It tasted remarkably well. Therefore, now my colleagues had to wait for me to find all the fish bones and eat the last piece of meat on it I could find. Once again I was left surprised by the quality of fish for slightly more than two Euros in the SNU dining hall. Afterwards I decided it was time to visit the SNU gym for some work-out. I deliberately risk repeating myself to praise this place: first, you can pay for entering only once without any difficulty and don't have to sign up for the rest of your life or be bothered by promotion people as is the case in Germany. Second, you get a towel, shorts and a t-shirt to wear and just throw it in the hamper for washing once your done working out. (You don't get shoes and socks and I obviously managed to forget to bring a second pair of the latter. Ah well, next time.) The entire place is air-conditioned (other than easy sports, where you die in summer) and water is free. Finally soap, hairbrushes, blowdriers, etc. are all available and included. Awesome. Anyhow, with slightly aching muscles I made my way back to Nok-Du and managed to find the Mandu (Korean dumpling) dumpling restaurant we enjoyed so much. I didn't manage to order the ones I wanted, however, but while attempting to make the waitress understand came across 'four large' mandu as an option. So I ordered those, since I had only seen regular size before. Can't say I prefer them over the small ones really, but they are certainly a sight, aren't they? And allow me to emphasize the price again: less than three euros in a restaurant!!!

Return to Nok-Du

2009-07-19T20:19:00.005+09:00

Time is passing incredibly fast sometimes. I've only just spent a few days in Mainz and am already on my way back for my second three-month stay in Seoul. Leaving Mainz was a lot harder for me this time, but once I stepped out of the plane the excitement of being back in Korea quite successfully overcame the sadness of having left Mainz. Before leaving the airport, there is a little quirk worth mentioning about Korea: no matter what cell phone you bring it is impossible to tell whether it will work or not. The most likely answer, however, is: no. Because of this you can rent cell phones at the airport. It's actually quite cheap and you immediately have a Korean number and can call anywhere for little money. Afterwards I dragged my bag through the hot and extremely humid summer weather. The lonely planet guide book explicitely advises against visiting this time of year, but what the hell. Next goal was to meet with Sangtaik who had kindly arranged my housing here. We chose a place of comfort, where waiting would be air-conditioned and joyous: Dunkin' Donuts. I am staying two doors to the right of my former room, so for information and pictures refer to my first blog entry from ages ago. Next came an incredible slightly over an hour shopping spree through Nok-Du. I bought everything I deemed necessary for my stay here: bed sheets, linen, a pillow, glasses, a knife, a plate, a multi-outlet power strip, trash bags, toilet paper, post-it notes and probably even more for roughly a hundred Euros. Did I mention I arrived on Sunday? Shopping is definitely much more convenient here than in Germany.
To refill my strength I ate a 'fusion' dish, i.e. merged Korean-Western, for dinner: pork cutlet. A smooth transition from European to Korean dining is probably a good idea. After such a successful day, I felt like doing a little more than just unpacking and going to bed, so I made a short trip to Shillim. Two main reasons dictated the choice: first I wanted to make someone very special to me a little jealous ;) and second I didn't want to have to break my 'no donuts during the week' concept on the very first Monday that I am here... After a slightly exhausting, but donut-filled day I am now more than ready for bed.
BTW: Despite many such requests I will NOT rename the blog to include food in the title ;)
I will try, however, not be terribly repetitive as I know I have been today in the future and will only post more food pics, if I find something truly new.

Living octopus

2009-02-26T04:44:00.007+09:00

The time had come. We found the place with the baby octopi swimming in an aquarium in the front. We went in. I attempted to pronounce the words on my little note and the man seemed to know what I wanted but told us there were none left or so. There seemed to still be quite a few in the aquarium though. We found a Korean with a reasonably solid knowledge of English and asked him to help us. We had to order drinks along with it, he translated. No problem. And more food as well. More food? No, that did not seem like a good idea. So maybe no octopus tonight. Evidently the place was too busy to waste a table on four westerners curious to try a cheap specialty instead of having a real dinner. We left and spent some time at a traditional Korean bar instead. On the way back to the hotel, Mirsada decided to go and ask again. This time there was no problem. It is hard to say whether happiness or shock overcame me realizing that now there was no escape anymore. Neither for me nor for one of the octopi about to get eaten. Thanks to Don you may here witness the preparation of our food and the moment that I actually eat my first piece. It's actually quite a challenge to pick up a squirming, slick piece of moving octopus with chop sticks. Once successful, it turns out it's rather gooey, utterly indestructible and quite lively in the mouth. However, it does taste a lot better than one would expect and probably better than its boiled older brethren. We actually managed to finish the whole plate. Guess for the four of us there is nothing much left in the world that we wouldn't dare try to eat now. Seconds, anyone?

Downtown

2009-02-26T04:18:00.003+09:00

On the last day for most conference attendees, Mirsada, Don, Victor and I did a quick tour of some of the most interesting sights in Seoul: the Jogyesa buddhist temple, the traditional shopping street Insadong and the Samsung tower. Weather turned out to be rather mediocre, but that didn't spoil the fun of a traditional dinner, the view from the Samsung tower and the admiration for exotic lamps, paintings, dishes and more. Finally, we also managed to find a place serving Dakkalbi: chicken, cabbage, spicy sauce and noodles or rice mixed in a hot pan in the center of the table. The glorious trip to the Insadong area was completed with an icecream by Cold Stone :-)
However, the most exciting part of the evening was yet to come since Victor and I wanted to try live octopus and we had found out that there was a place close to our hotel offering just that...

Skiing

2009-02-26T04:12:00.002+09:00

Yes, you read correctly: skiing. After three days of hard work, day number four took us two hours away from Seoul to the skiing resort Phoenix park. While the slopes were neither as long nor as difficult as one might be used from the Alpes, the truly exciting part was being able to ski at night up to ten o'clock. Besides, not having had the chance to go skiing in the last two and a half years, I was absolutely thrilled to be given the chance again.

Conference days

2009-02-26T03:59:00.003+09:00

Nonetheless the true reason for this visit was work and not just fun and games so the following days were spent in a lecture hall during the day and in good restaurants in the evening and pubs and bars thereafter. Highlights were the traditional Korean beef BBQ and a dinner consisting of over a dozen different courses. The evenings were spent with beer, soju and dong dong ju and all kinds of dried fish and other side dishes to accompany them (not like anyone would have still needed extra food, but that's the way it is). At this point it seems appropriate to mention, that Koreans thoroughly enjoy mixing beer with other types of harder alcohol such as soju or whiskey and have devised many interesting ways of mixing, multiple of them involving the ever-present chop sticks...

Day two

2009-02-26T03:41:00.003+09:00

The next day was intended for the next best thing to do in Seoul: shopping. And so we started from Namdaemun at noon, moved over to Myeong dong in the afternoon and ended up in Dongdaemun in the evening. Namdaemun is the fabulous street market, where we ended up buying everything from sweets to scissors to backpacks to... We were quite surprised to see, however, that we could also have bought living turtles. Assuring ourselves, that they were probably intended
as pets, we may yet have missed a specialty of the local cuisine so far.
In the evening, Dongdaemun presented itself in beautiful winter decoration and even revealed a fully restored city gate, that had so far been under construction.
All in all it was very much worthwhile to have arrived early.

Return to Seoul

2009-02-26T03:20:00.002+09:00

Thanks to a shift in the usual schedule, our once-a-year conference in Korea took place in February this year. Thrilled to have a chance to go back, I decided to arrive a day early. Any visit to Korea must be started with good food, so we started with shabu shabu for dinner. This corresponds to raw beef (or seafood), which will be boiled along with vegetables in the center of the table. Always makes me wonder why in Asia there are so many exciting do-it-yourself dinners, while in Europe you usually just get your plate with food.

Time to say goodbye

2008-10-30T13:00:00.007+09:00

It is my last day here, the bags are packed, I checked out of my room, got back my deposit, could not even use my internet last night, am a little scared how much I will have to pay for my excess baggage tomorrow...
The last days we had an all-German get-together in a bar in Shillim with a bit of beer and lots of typically American sweets: a brownie and an ice cream cake and lots of donuts. The day after we decided to visit the highest bar in Seoul in the 63 building to have some cocktails accompanied by fried king prawns to waste my leftover Wons. Today, I am in the office for the last time and had lunch with almost all group members. Now we are saying the last farewells before I leave for home to rearrange some of my luggage and trade pictures with everyone in the evening. Tomorrow morning I will have to head to the airport and leave for Germany. I wish I could stay here longer, since there is still so much more left to see and do. It was definitely a very nice time and I can only recommend Seoul and Korea to anyone who might get the chance to go there. Now my only hope is that Germany will be nicer than German artist Paul Snowden expresses in his work, which Claudine came across at an art exhibition. The last sentence has already turned into a running gag here for those of us about to go back. PS: The weather also sucks. Optimistic, that the rest will not, this is my last blog entry from here. Goodbye Korea, until next year.

Farewell dinner

2008-10-28T19:11:00.003+09:00

I couldn't possibly leave Korea without another truly amazing dinner prior to departure. So we decided to visit an all-you-can-eat restaurant previously discovered and recommended by Peter and Niko. The praise of the restaurant was well deserved, as it offered a taste of many favorites: california rolls, sushi, deep fried shrimps, spring rolls, calm showder, beef as well as shrimp goulash, "German" sausages, tomato gratin, different types of mandu and countless cakes, fruits and pastries. In total I ate five wonderful plates all of which are shown here. I have to apologize, though, because on two of them I started eating prior to taking the picture. What a dinner...

7th hike (Baekundae)

2008-10-28T18:54:00.005+09:00

After two days of rain, the sun broke through the clouds and made way for clear blue skies and the best visibility in Seoul I have witnessed since my arrival, i.e. the perfect weather for hiking. We decided for Baekundae, which is a little bit closer to Seoul and hasn't been frequented by us as much as Dobongsan. We did not go straight fof the Baekundae peak this time, but instead headed for the ridge leading there, which was fortified by a stone wall offering a mezmerizing view over Seoul. One could not only see all of downtown, but also the Han river sparkling in the sun shine, building 63 towering on its peninsula, the antennas on top of the Gwanaksan near the SNU and the rolling hills beyond the southern reaches of Seoul. To make a perfect day even better the leaves showed all imaginable colors from yellow to bright red and green with some trees near the top already almost bare due to the strong winds. It may have been the last weekend to enjoy the autumn colors , it certainly was the prettiest I've seen. Sadly, it was also my last hike here - at least this year.

Two days of rain

2008-10-28T00:14:00.005+09:00

The last friday in the office. Last subgroup meeting, concluding presentation in the group meeting. The end of my time here is drawing near. Sadness engulfs me as I realize that next Friday, I will be sitting on the plane to Germany again, while rain pours down outside from morning til night. It sure was a great time here in Korea and after the group seminar, almost everyone tagged along for exciting dinner, different types of Korean wine, singing at a Norebang and finally some beer again. It was so fun I actually forgot (!!!) taking pictures. The next morning, the rain still has not ceased. Pouring without mercy, the national museum sounds like the perfect place to go after lying in bed a bit longer than necessary. In front of the museum the reflecting pond was almost alive as rain drops beat down on it, a few steps further under the shelter of the museum's roof, there is a folklore musical performance. Inside, we learn about the beginnings of life in Korea from the stone to the bronze and iron age. Our initially slow and fascinated progress hastens as we grow weary and time wears on. We see porcellaine vases, golden Buddha statues, ancient scriptures, buddhist stupas and countless other things before we leave the permanent exhibition without even getting the chance to see any of the special exhibition part of the building. Definitely worth going to and coming back a second time. After so much culture, we stopped by a different shopping area, shared a huge sushi plate along with ramen soups and finally hit a krispy kreme donuts for a correspondingly lovely desert.

Weekly meals

2008-10-28T00:03:00.003+09:00

I figured, since I posted so many different food pictures up to now, I have to post some of the most famous and well-liked Korean dish Bi Bim Bap and of the university dining hall. So here they come. First is Bi Bim Bap - a traditional rice dish. Served in a large bowl there is a huge variety of vegetables almost always topped by a fried egg and sometimes accompanied by pieces of meat. The rice may be underneath or - as in this case - has to be added by hand. Next step is to add some red sauce and mix well. Enjoy :-)
Second are pictures of a typical lunch and dinner at the dining hall. They are to stand in contrast to most other food pictures posted here. And while the food is also good in the dining hall, it still might correct the impression that we are always eating in heavenly places here. The Bi Bim Bap picture by the way were taken in the upper class dining hall.

6th hike (Hallasan)

2008-10-26T21:24:00.010+09:00

On the final day in Jeju, we decided to climb the 1900 m high Halla mountain towering over the island. The weather was nice and warm, the trees featured leaves of all colors from green to yellow to bright red and the black lava rock underneath made for a beautiful contrast. Since we had to catch a plane in the evening we decided for the slighly longer, but easier climb through rolling hills covered with dense forest. After quite a few hours of walking an a Ramen soup for lunch at the shelter below the crater, we started the final ascent. We arrived just in time to see the crater for a few minutes before it disappeared in dense clouds. Temperature had dropped throughout the hike forcing all of us decided to put on some warm jackets at the top - well, almost all of us anyways. Our pleasent stay at the top was shortened by the beginning of drizzeling rain, which quickly increased to substantial rain and stayed with us almost all the way down. Completely wet and unable to dry or change, we decided to have a good sashimi (hoi) dinner in Jeju harbor before leaving. We got more than we asked for on this one. Accompanying the plate with the tasty slices of raw fish, which had been taken out of the aquarium, killed and sliced for us the second after we ordered, we were also served a plate of raw specialties, which turned out to be hard to identify. Another highlight were the snails, served with burning fire in the center of the plate. Some of these exotic ocean inhabitants were quite tasty, others required some water or soju to help them on their way down.

Island tour

2008-10-25T11:33:00.012+09:00

Of course, you don't travel to a far away tropical island to leave it again after two days of conference. So, we booked the flight back on Sunday evening instead of Friday. To explore the island a car is absolutely essential and due to lacking an international drivers licences for a while it seemed that we wouldn't be able to get one. However, to our luck Shang Yik - actually born and raised on Jeju island - decided to stay a day longer and show us the island by car. We started looking at Oedolgae rock and continued from there to the Cheonjiyeon waterfall, a rainbow showing in the spray. We then visited Seongeup folklore village. This village - in contrast to all others we heard of so far - actually preserved the old life style and people still live in the houses, so it is not a museum as the traditional Korean village in Seoul for example. Houses on Jeju were traditionally made of stone and the roofs are also unique in Korea, since Jeju has to withstand heavy rains and storms unrivaled on the main land. They even held some of the famous black pigs in the back. After having a late lunch there, we continued to Seongsan Ilchulbong, known as sunrise peak. First we stopped at a botanical garden featuring a lava cave below, to then continue to a beach near sunrise peak to get an impression from afar, before finally driving up to it and climbing to the crater at the top, offering a magnificant view. Finally, we travelled to the mysterious road south of Jeju city, the only slight disappointment of the trip, since it did not rival the mystery spot in Santa Cruz, CA. Our tour guide than sadly had to leave for his plane and we went to have dinner and relax from an exciting trip.

Conference - part II

2008-10-23T20:29:00.007+09:00

Waking up to blue skies, tangerine trees beneath my window, the ocean in sight already put me in a good mood. On the second day of the conference we decided to use the generous lunch break for a small trip to the nearby grotto inside sanbang mountain. It took a quick ten minute hike to get up and offered a lovely view of the surrounding area. Inside was a Buddhist statue and a pond collecting water dripping from the ceiling, which we could not decline trying. Below the grotto lay a beautiful sandy beach, over which the Hamel monument towered. Hamel was a dutch merchant, who stranded on Jeju in the 16th century. He and his surviving crew members were the first westerners ever to have encountered Korea. They were brought before the king and denied return for almost thirteen years to keep Korea a secret. In the afternoon coffee break we wandered a little further down the paths behind the ICC and encountered impressive columnar lava structures nearby.

Jeju

2008-10-23T20:17:00.006+09:00

Thanks to the Korean Chemical Society Meeting at the International Conference Center (ICC) Claudine, Mark and I were granted the opportunity to travel to the beautiful, subtropical island Jeju. Upon arrival in a tiny propeller plane, we were already greeted by blue skies and a wonderful view of the island. The ICC turned out to be an equally impressive building, shaped to resemble the shape of Jeju, built right next to the shore. After an exciting check-in using English, pieces of Korean and sign language, we again visited all English talks available, all theory-based posters and finally an exhibition by a few industrial companies. The brave conference attendance was rewarded by a little buffet including scraps of famous black Jeju porc meet. Afterwards we explored the area with our Korean colleagues, visiting the best hotel on the island (Lotte Hotel) and sitting on Jungmun beach watching the moon.

Technicalities

2008-10-23T11:04:00.005+09:00

Just a few technical things about the blog:

I changed the settings to allow anyone - not just google account holders - to write comments, so go ahead.
Since I have no idea how many people are reading this, I added a poll to find out. Please participate.
I hope you like the new layout. I was trying to find a way to align pictures and text better, but so far have been unsuccessful. If you have any hints in that regard, feel free to let me know.

Dinner & massage

2008-10-22T20:37:00.003+09:00

Or in the correct order: first massage then dinner. In this case Cheol along with his wife and daughter invited Claudine and me to a Chinese foot massage. After changing into a given t-shirt and shorts, the feet were bathed in hot tea for a few minutes. The massage itself took place upstairs in a small room lying on a bed. It was a very interesting mixture of pleasure and pain, depending on what the masseur did to the feet. I was quite impressed by the care they took and the attention that can be given to one's feet. I certainly had never experienced anything like it before. Pain felt during the massage supposedly links to some troubles in other areas of life or the body. In my case the main pain I felt was linked to lack of sleep, which is as true as it can be since I came here. Afterwards, Cheol and his family joined us for dinner, sharing a stuffed duck in a traditional restaurant. It was the first longer encounter with Germans for his daughter, but it seems that she enjoyed it along with the rest of us.

5th hike (Gwanaksan)

2008-10-22T20:07:00.009+09:00

It seems hiking is on schedule on a regular basis now. This time however, it was a hike with our university colleagues and the destination was the ridge surrounding the campus. As seemingly always the weather was brilliant and the hike reasonably exhausting. We carried very tasty kim-bap with us and even found someone selling ice cream somewhere along the way. The leaves also gave a first impression of how magnificant fall is going to look in a week or two. Afterwards, the professor invited us for a beer and I even managed to persuade two co-workers to join me for visiting a jim-jil-bang - the Korean mixture of sauna, pool, movie theatre, rest area, restaurant and more. Definitely worth repeating, for more info see: http://www.seoulstyle.com/art_naked.htm. Didn't read the whole thing, but at least it has pictures.

Korean Polymer Society Meeting (Ilsan)

2008-10-22T00:46:00.003+09:00

Our first really Korean conference. Titles and slides of presentations were in English, but almost all of the talks were in Korean. We tried understanding Korean theory talks, which turned out to be quite a challenge, and attended all English talks (two or three) regardless of the topic. Thanks to that, we ran into a pretty interesting lecture about - among other things - the formation of the structure of our finger prints. Most of all, it was a good chance to have lunch, dinner and coffee with our Korean colleagues and we even took a detour on the way back to Nok-Du to look at a beautiful lakeside village.

Custom-made suites

2008-10-21T21:01:00.000+09:00

Johannes, Stefan and I had finally come to a decision: rather pay a little more in a trustworthy-looking store than go for the really cheap deal. So off we went to our custom tailor of choice in Itaewon. At first we had to choose between an enormous variety of materials: all-year, autumn, spring, stripes, nothing, black, blue... Then after finally coming to a decision on that, we needed to choose style. Two or three buttons? Jacket cut in the center of the back or twice on the sides? And more. Eventually, it got down to taking measurements. A week later we returned to try on the suites in an intermediate state. We put them on and they were adjusted in multiple places pulling little strings and putting little needles to make them fit as good as possible. Quite an unusual feeling having someone fiddle around with the clothes one is wearing to make adjustments. Yet another week later, we could finally try on the result of our money and the tailor's work. All of us were quite pleased. The suites feel good, fit well and look quite impressive. A nice little feature that surprised us all was our name stitched on the inside of the suites. All that remains now is to find one or more occasions to try them out.

Cheong Wa Dae

2008-10-15T22:42:00.000+09:00

On the last day, we visited the residence of the Korean president: the Cheong Wa Dae. Also named the blue house for its unique roof color reserved for the highest rank in the country. After passing through many layers of tight security, we entered a beautiful garden still packed with man in suites with guns. Along precisely mowed lawn and beautiful ancient trees we slowly made our way toward the actual blue house. Pictures were only allowed to be taken in certain spots and in certain directions. Sadly, we were also not permitted to enter the house itself, despite the intro video showing shots of the interior. We did get to take a look inside a nearby assembly hall, designed for welcomig foreign guests and eventually left past a rather unusual monument. The city tour continued with Seoul tower, a quick stop in Nok-Du for a hair cut and changing clothes and finally some clubbing in Hongdae.

4th hike (Dobongsan)

2008-10-15T22:23:00.000+09:00

Of course, if you want to get to know Korea, you must go hiking. So we headed for Dobongsan with almost everyone again, confident we would be able to find our very first hiking route along the steep climbs again. After some initial difficulties, we found exactly what we were looking for and it turned out to be another awesome, exhausting hike in beautiful weather, although the view was not as clear as we would have wished. Therefore, the first trees had already turned the wonderful bright red of autumn. Upon returning to Nok-Du it was the first evening we were too spent to do more than have a quick beer in a nearby pub prior to some well-deserved sleep.

Suwon

2008-10-15T21:44:00.000+09:00

Thursday was yet another day to get up reasonably early, since we hit the road for Suwon, a small city still within the range of Seoul metro, approximately 1.5 hrs away. The old town center is surrounded by a stone wall with lots of nicely fortified towers, guarding a golden Buddha statue, a palace and more. I was completely thrilled upon arrival at one of the main gates, since it looked something like I would expect the great wall to look. Only much smaller and quite a bit more recently built - I believe it was around 1790 or so. We took a stroll along the top of the wall, Christian & I tried out some archery with traditional Korean bows, we saw a Christian cathedral from afar and visited the Buddhist temple from close up. After the beautiful but exhausting trip, we went for a traditional Korean BBQ dinner with Claudine, where they actually serve the slightly pricy Korean beef. Nevertheless, it was worth every cent.

DMZ

2008-10-11T19:37:00.000+09:00

0700h. Camp Kim. Destination: DMZ (demilitarized zone between North and South Korea). 1.5 hours north of Seoul. After about one hour the left side of the river next to the highway was lined with a fence and guard posts occupied by military. Prior to entering Camp Bonifas, the US military base 'in front of them all', i.e. the base closest to the North Korean border, the bus passed through a heavily fortified road blockade. Obviously, near all strategically important military positions taking pictures was striktly forbidden. Inside the camp, we were first given a 20 minute briefing about the history of Korea. Note that there is no peace treaty between North and South Korea. As of today there is only an armistice (ceasefire, truce) between them. There have also been quite a few incidents after the Korean war, most noteworthy the discovery of three major tunnels dug from North Korea into South Korea presumably to bring large numbers of soldiers toward Seoul as quickly as possible. The latest of these was discovered in 1990 (!!!). We then drove to some observation points, where one could see into North Korea. Both sides built little towns near inside the DMZ featuring massive flag poles. We were also in the building were the truce was negotiated on July 27, 1953. The table in the center of the room is devided by the border, so we actually had the chance to entered North Korean territory. Also, the immediate area was guarded by soldiers from both sides. Upon returning to Seoul, we had a good dinner and ended the day in the bar on the top level of the Samsung tower overlooking Seoul, while drinking wine and enjoying a piece of cake.

Vacation and visitors

2008-10-11T00:56:00.000+09:00

After Busan, I took a week off to show around two German visitors, who are currently studying in China: Hanne and Christian. After there arrival I decided to start with traditional Korean food: dulsok bi bim bap (rice mixed with all kinds of vegetables in a hot stone bowl). Afterwards, I decided to show them my favorite traditional Korean bar. The entrance almost scared them off and we decided to capture the moment in a picture illustrating that I had also already showed them the Korean way of symbolizing 'no' (anyo). Once inside they were quite happy with the choice. The next morning, we had to find out that a lot of temples were closed on tuesday. The initial disappointmen was quickly swept away by the opportunity to participate in a Korean bell ringing ceremony nearby. It felt like in a movie - the three of us in between all the traditionally clad Korean soldiers. We then visited the Jogyesa temple, toured through Insadong for some shopping, looked at the artificial creek through downtonw, city hall and finally stumbled across a palace near city hall, that I myself had never been to before. Inside were traditional Korean palace buildings as well as two roman-style houses, one of which held a traditional art exhibition, we decided to attend. The eventful day was rounded off by some shopping in Dongdaemun. I never anticpated shopping for clothes and shoes could be that much fun. We didn't even find the time to look at the performances on the multiple stages, which were my initial reason for going there. Nonetheless, it was only the beginning of a wonderful week.

Fish market

2008-10-07T23:50:00.000+09:00

Saturday, after considering another day at the beach, I was persuaded to instead check out the city especially the local fish market. Busan's harbor is the 2nd largest in the world, so the fish market also turned out to be quite impressive. There was one with solely dried fish and a very beautiful building filled with mostly living fish in water tanks waiting for customers. If you are wondering what you get when you order dried fish, check out the pictures. Along with that there is a 'modern traditional' house, a before and after picture of fish and a traditional Korean folklore group.

Beach time

2008-10-07T23:40:00.000+09:00

Friday afternoon the conference was over and this could mean only one thing: beach time. Too much to tell, too little time, therefore just a few nice impressions: me enjoying the ocean, an enormous amount of kites on a single string at a nearby kite competition and an aquarium full of squids about to be enjoyed in the restaurant behind it.

Conference tour

2008-10-07T19:33:00.000+09:00

On thursday afternoon, all German participants and quite a few Koreans went for a trip to an old city from the Shilla dynasty featuring - among other things - the Bulguksa temple. Very beautiful buildings with stone stairways. Afterwards we had a traditional dinner and went to see a park at dusk, which might have been the prettiest sight of the day. Most unexpected or surprising was an ancient graveyard, however, which had nothing in common with European cemetaries at all. Nothing scary about it, just peaceful and pretty. The graves are large earth mounds (or small hills) covered with grass and all around are trees and flowers. Not a dark, gloomy place, with stone crosses and cobble stone paths as in Europe. Sadly too challenging for my camera to take a picture.

Conference dinner

2008-10-07T00:10:00.000+09:00

No respectable conference comes without a special dinner. Ours was on wednesday and it was special indeed. The chosen location was the Nurimaru APEC house, built with the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation of mainly east asian, but also US and Russian, world leaders in mind. A more beautiful location would be challenging to find, offering the view of the open ocean as well as of the bay in front of one of the main bridges of Busan - the home for a staggering 3.5 million Koreans and therefore not exactly the little harbor village I had expected prior to arrival. Foodwise the highlight was certainly the soft shell crab served as part of the starter. Every part of it was edible and wonderful. The dinner was accompanied by musical performances of a Korean music professor as well as a traditional music group - everything from German opera over traditional Korean pipe to contemporary Korean music. All in all another one of those evenings to be remembered.

Conference days

2008-10-05T22:39:00.001+09:00

To at least give a short impression of the conference, I've decided to give you a quick impression of the lecture hall. However, meetings all across the globe are fairly similar. Sure, behind the curtains there is a beautiful beach, but during talks all across the globe it is usually dark and cold. Some of the talks did turn out to be rather interesting, though. But enough of that: no conference comes without good food and the welcoming buffet surpassed everything I've seen at any conference so far. Particular highlight was 'sashimi', not to be confused with sushi. While both refer to raw fish, sushi is usually sliced very thin and served on rice, sashimi is sliced a lot thicker and may be eaten without anything else to accompany it (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashimi). Koreans tend to eat a variety of sauces and salad leaves with it. After initial hesitation, I found out that it was excellent. Especially the red tuna, which I was told is also exceedingly rare. In the evening the following day we also went to a sashimi bar near the coast, where fish and seafood were served so fresh, some parts were still twitching. Nevertheless a very tasty experience.

Busan - arrival

2008-09-28T17:31:00.000+09:00

Conference time. This translates to the extraordinary - at least on the inside - paradise hotel at the water front of Haeundae beach and excellent dinner with by our Korean hosts pre-selected dishes. In contrast to the other Germans at the conference, Claudine, Johannes and I arrived by train (KTX - the Korean TGW) and were extremely well rested after a comfortable three hour trip. Upon arriving at the hotel we took a stroll along the beach then joined a few of the other conference attendees for dinner in the in-house Korean restaurant, which turned out to be an excellent choice since Busan is one of the greatest places for fish and that is what we got. To give you an impression of just how nice the beach and hotel were, I decided to also show you the nicest shots of the immediate area. The only disadvantage of the hotel was that they did not offer free internet access. There was a free wireless network in the area, but it was so slow it took an entire talk - uh: I mean almost thirty minutes - jsut to check the e-mail. I didn't even think about uploading pictures there.

3rd hike (Dobongsan)

2008-09-18T22:12:00.002+09:00

Another day, another hike. As always, this meant meeting up with Klaus-Jürgen, Axel and Tobias, but this time they were accompanied by a group of Korean colleagues, which Claudine and I had been invited to join. It all started out with less incline and rumors that - to my great disappointment - there would be no near-death experience climbing on this route. However, the fast pace on level ground held as the incline steadily increased. With two liters of water, bananas and cherry tomatoes in the backpack, I started struggling. Claudine evidently felt similarly. Luckily for our legs and stamina, but also a bit sadly, since the weather was as always amazing, one of the Koreans didn't feel so well and we headed down after reaching the first peak. Initially a walk from peak to peak had been planned, but was then discarded. The really tough part hit us back in the village below, however. Eating and drinking, business style. The boss orders it, you eat it. The boss pours it, you drink it. I had the questionable pleasure of finally eating a chicken foot (including toe bones, I think - pictures proving this will follow). The tough part was drinking, however. Beer, then more beer, then half a beer at once, then again, then beer with soju, then some more. From three in the afternoon til six in the evening. Wow. Actually, it wasn't that much, but after all the exhaustion of the hike and the loss of water, the world moved a bit slower for us. When we finally arrived home, I just wanted to lie down for a second before starting my computer and taking a shower, only to awake two and a half hours later, still fully dressed, lying on top of my blanket, a little unsure of where I was and why. However, no headaches or bad feelings remained.

Seoul Tower

2008-09-18T22:12:00.001+09:00

Saturday, sight-seeing seemed to be in order again and this time it meant Seoul tower, the tallest point in downtown Seoul, on a little hill in a little park right in the center of a huge city. Sadly, as so often, the view was obscured by haze in the distance despite perfectly blue, cloudless skies. Also gives us a good reason to return, however. Nonetheless looking down on a mega city of over twenty million in habitants in the area is an impressive sight. The variety of buildings from little shacks, to multi-storey residential buildings, massive malls, classy hotels and high-tech skyescrapers is fascinating. We stayed until sunset and hiking down from the tower back to the metro got to see a beautiful red sun shedding its fading light onto the countless buildings of a greyish metropolis.

Baseball

2008-09-18T22:12:00.000+09:00

Yes, baseball. However unlikely it might seem to you, Americans didn't stop at importing Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks, no baseball is also one of the major sports here. Not too far from the Coex Mall there is the Olympia baseball stadium and we were told that there are permier league games every day except Monday. A seat with decent view for 10,000 Won didn't sound like such a bad deal so off we went. Luckily, on the way there I learned that Korean guys don't go necessarily because of the baseball. No, it's the cheerleaders. Both teams have a fan curve and in the break there are performances of cheerleaders well worth watching. Obviously these two parts of the stadium were already booked out when we arrived, but the rest of the place was pretty empty. The game itself proved to be reasonably boring, as I recalled from my time in the US, and the exciting moments often pass so quickly that you hardly have time to wake up and notice them. We were truly amazed, however, that they wasted two baseball bats during the game. One broke in half at it thinnest point, the others head splintered into countless pieces. Wow. You'd think those things could handle, but then again the pitchers balls hit at above 140 km/h, which does make for quite an impact.

Boss visiting

2008-09-16T22:45:00.000+09:00

It was a busy week. After the group seminar dinner on Monday, an American group leader came for a visit on tuesday and it was Claudine's birthday on wednesday - bringing with it all the cake, drinking and finally karaoke that go along with a birthday here. Finally on thursday my professor from Germany came for a visit. Besides picking him up at the airport, listening to his presentation and talking with him and my Korean boss about the work here, it also lead to a very amazing dinner for me and Claudine with three professors. We went to a traditional barbaque place and had the chance to compare Korean beef with that imported from Australia. For obvious reasons, Korean beef turned out to be more tasty, but it is evidently also more expensive, a sad fact that didn't bother us that evening. Afterwards the Korean professors decided to leave, but my boss was in the mood for a few more drinks in Nok-Du. So we showed him the traditional bar, which we found a bit over a week ago, for something soju-like and eventually ended up in a beer bar, with some nice tables out back under the open sky in the midst of countless residential houses. After entertaining conversation about all together non-business topics, we managed to find a taxi, that brought my boss safely home. P.S.: Don't even consider commenting on the fact that I'm wearing an almost identical outfit.

Semester dinner

2008-09-11T11:53:00.000+09:00

On Monday, we had dinner with the entire group and the Professor, which is a once in a semester experience well worth joining. It was definitely by far the best dinner I have had here since my arrival. Not that food had not been good up to now, but the enormous variety of side dishes, duck, bulgogi (Korean style beef), noodles, vegetables, soups and everything to drink from rice wine to different spirits certainly made this dinner stick out above the rest. It was also very nice, that everyone from the group was present and we had been given a separate room in the restaurant, also giving us the chance to take a nice group picture.

2nd hike (Gupabal)

2008-09-09T23:03:00.000+09:00

Another sunday, another mountain. This time all of us heeded Klaus-Jürgens call and showed up at 9:30h at the subway station in Gupabal, north-west of Seoul. Thanks to our prior experience, everyone showed up well-equipped. Notice especially my gorgeous new hiking boot(s), which are accompanied by some extremely cheap pants and a very comfortable t-shirt containing some Modal. After a few steps, we were greeted by stone statues, intent to ward off evil spirits. Luckily, they let us pass. As before, our luck was wonderful: with every step we took, the sky became a brighter blue. Again, we had a beautiful day hiking along tiny creeks, through lush green forests and across barren rock to be rewarded by stunning views of the surrounding hills and the metropolis below. We passed a stone fortification built by Korean emperors ages ago and a massive Buddha statue greeting visitors to finally return after another six wonderful and exhausting hours of hiking to an intriguing local restaurant (the last picture displays the entrance) for some Korean-style pan cakes, grilled ginseng and maekju - or as westerners tend to call it: beer.

Dongdaemun nights

2008-09-09T22:30:00.000+09:00

Since Dongdaemun had left a very good impression with everyone who had been there the weekend before, none of us argued when the others also wanted to spend an evening there this weekend. So yet again we plunged into the gigantic market area. We stayed until the sun went down and allowed us to get an impression of all the colorfully lighted skye scrapers in the dark. I felt like getting a little experimental and decided to share two seconds of Korean night life with you via the two pictures displayed. We again ate in the food court on the 9th floor offering a marvelous view over a shining city. I finally decided to try a Sushi roll - my first Sushi in years. It was pretty good, though not marvelous. It did look impressive, though. I will have to try some Sushi in a Japanese restaurant in the near future...

Traditional bar

2008-09-04T22:47:00.000+09:00

Wednesday started out pretty bad with me already having spent tuesday on trying to debug some code without success. So I decided to do whatever it takes to make it work - and it actually did. There are still some things to be looked at, but all in all everything was fine just in time for a slightly later dinner than usual. To make a good ending even better the dinner was sponsored by a former graduate of the group now working at Samsung and took place in the nicest dining hall on the top level. Afterwards one of the theoreticians showed us a beautiful balcony near our office, we had never been to before and decided to take us out to drinking. Of course, we could not say no to that. And this was a really good thing, because he took us to a truly traditional bar, whose entrance would have kept any normal traveller incaable of reading Korean out. See for yourself - it did not look like a bar entrance to me. Inside the rather large building, little wooden huts were built on two stories, low wooden tables, seating on the floor on comfortable cushions, extremely good Korean food, rice wine, bamboo grog and more. All in all a very wonderful evening after a very work-intensive day.

Jongmyo & Changgyeonggung

2008-09-03T22:26:00.000+09:00

On Sunday I was totally in the mood for some cultural exploration. Sadly, this did not hold for most of the others. Luckily, I managed to convince Sibylle, Philipp and Mark to join me on a trip to Changgyeonggung, which was recommended on one of our Seoul maps. We exited a the recommended subway station and followed the temple signs to a world heritage site. Despite the fame and beauty of the place, they certainly did not design the entrances for people of my size. Keeping my head low was rewarded by some traditional silver ware inside and a little bit of information on ancestral warship. The main temple site itself was so wide, it did not fit on my camera even when taking the picture at maximum distance with my back to the wall. When we were just about to leave again, we found out that we had actually visited Jongmyo, which not hold for everyone, but I managed to convince had not been our intended destination. That was across a little bridge further to the north. So off we went to find another even more beautiful temple site with beautiful trees and a little lake in the back. Pretty exhausted from the trip, I managed to convince Sibylle and Philipp to join me for dinner in Dongdaemun, where I wanted to see what the stages had to offer at night. It was well worth it. After having dinner on the 9th level of one of the major malls, we headed down just in time to witness the beginning of a Korean musical talent show. The show was even presented on TV and the current picture was displayed on a huge screen next to the stage. Probably due to Philipp's ability to get the three of us to be clapping and laughing a lot and maybe the fact, that we were the only European group around, we appeared on the big screen five (!!!) times. We even decided to buy some lighters to wave during the slower ballads, but the wind became stronger a second later and renderd them more or less useless. Nevertheless, it was super fun and a really good and sometimes funny show. Upon returning to Nok-Du at around 22:30h, it didn't take much convincing by Claudine & Mark to get us to tag along to another hour of Karaoke, after which we sank to bed completely spent but smiling.

Dongdaemun

2008-09-01T19:40:00.000+09:00

Saturday began with the usualy workout for me and Johannes, unaccompanied by any DAAD students, who were evidently still trying to recover from their night out before. Afterwards, we split up, me being intent on finally buying new hiking shoes for upcoming trips. The people I've asked recommended Dongdaemun for this purpose. On the rather long subway trip there, I decided to finally share the impression of a moderately crowded subway with you. Had it been really crowded, I couldn't have moved my arm to take the picture. Trust me, we have tried. Dongdaemun is an amazing place. It features an underground shopping center, a couple skyscrapers with enormous market-style malls in them and multiple endless streets with little market stalls selling everything from socks to food to electronics to books. I found my new Goretex hiking boots in the underground area and bought them from a very kind, older Korean man, who said that all Germans are nice and friendly and who was really helpful in arranging shoes that were actually my size - quite a problem here, I can tell you. Afterwards I headed back up to the surface, past the doosan mall, to one of the three remaining entrance gates of the ancient city walls. Sadly, there was a construction site on the front, obstructing the view on the circular wall surrounding the entrance on the outside. On my way back to the metro station I explored some of the side alleys, coming across a stone church, an little alley filled with shoes on all sides and countless other little stores. We then all met up to have dinner in Insa dong and concluded the day in a Korean Karaoke bar. For some reason, we were persuaded to take the VIP room, which turned out to be a great decision, since the sofa was really comfortable and the screen was amazing. All of us seem to be beginning to enjoy singing here, despite the many doubts all of us but Philipp have had about that.

Business trip ;-)

2008-08-28T20:42:00.000+09:00

True enough, it was getting up early again for me. We had decided to meet at 8:30h a litttle bit away from my place to ensure that we would make it to our destination in time. The destination of our group excursion being: Caribbean bay :-)
Caribbean bay is probably the largest water park in Korea and certainly the largest I have heard of, seen or been to before. It was huge. Sadly, it was also equally crowed. Nevertheless, we head straight for the wave pool. Evidently, security is taken a bit more seriously here, so we all had to wear life jackets before going into the pool. However the big waves and especially being tossed around by them in the water made up for the jacket hassle. It also turned out that there was another major advantage to having the life vest around. Upon meeting the others after changing, Mark and I had already noticed, that most were wearing t-shirts or so and we were the only ones leaving our upper body bare. Turned out later that the sun screen - 45 sunblock - probably said goodbye after the initial wave pool visit and left Mark with a red face and me with deep red shoulders, that are still burning today. At least the life vest protected the rest... Other than that, it was very fun, though. We took a couple different slides - there wasn't time for anywhere near all of them, mainly due to very long lines - my favorite being the boomerang slide, where three to four people share a tube, which slides down a very steep incline only to rush up a steep slope and plummet down into a stream again. It is at the end of this ride that I stumble out of the tube in the picture. For all of the attractions go and look at: http://www.everland.com/htm/MultiLanguage/english/htm/Ev/EvCb_Att_01.htm
or just type Caribbean bay in Google. We spent a bit inside, with a tube slide for two and a single body slide, eventually ending up in the spa, where we spent some time in a really hot pool, until we finally hit the cold pool and the showers before leaving again. All in all it was a great day, but obviously my digital camera didn't enjoy the prospect of water, so I took a few pictures before we went in and ran back in for a short moment before leaving to take some more. However, Kyung Hwan was brilliant enough to bring a waterproof camera. As you might imagine, it was not digital, so I scanned the pictures today in the office. I assume, you'll be able to tell which pictures were made with which camera ;-)
I sure hope there will be more group trips to come while I'm here.

Food, dinner & fun

2008-08-26T23:13:00.000+09:00

While I was struggeling with force field parameters, quantum mechnical calculation results and worse it suddenly occured - for the first time since I am here - that me and Mark where utterly alone in the office with everyone else being at meetings, in the lab or wherever. So it was the perfect moment to take an undisturbed picture of the office.
In the evening me and Cheol went out for some beer with side dishes. As I learned during our conversation we visited the first japanese style bar in Seoul, luckily very close to my home in Nok-Du. We started drinking Sake, japanese rice wine, which was served warm in a teapot. This was accompanied by an impressive platter of many different little skewers (hopefully this means the same as Grillspieße in German). And despite the fact that I am describing food yet again - it is the most amazing thing in everyday life here. So let us just take a look at the left side of the plate:
first are little sticks made of crab, followed by small pieces of something in the stomach of the chicken, followed by normal meatballs, fourth are pieces of chicken heart, fifth pieces of chicken breast, next some Korean fruit we could not translate and last but not least Garlic (very tasty). So, yes, I ate chicken heart today. And by heart I do not mean the center of the best piece of meat or so, but the part of the body that was beating and punping the blood through the little thing's veins, while it was still walking about. It was actually quite good and Cheol was impressed, that I dared to eat it without hesitation (it looked pretty tasty as well). Afterwards we drank some Soju cocktail out of a similar tea can, but this time cooled by ice cubes. Being pretty drunk by now, it seemed like a good idea to head home especially due to an important business trip the next day. On the way back we passed one of those places, where you can attempt to hit baseballs being shot at you with a baseball bat. Since it's only 500 Won for 20 or so shots, we gave it a try. It was enormously hard. I hit virtually nothing and those little balls were pretty darn fast. I will have to try again prior to drinking some day... Anyhow, this is another one of those 'sports' places, that are common in Korea and nonexistant in Germany, so I figured I should let you know before going to bed. I will have to get up earlier than usual yet again tomorrow.

The first hike

2008-08-24T20:15:00.000+09:00

This day was absolutely amazing. Since I don't really know where to start, I'll start from the beginning: The alarm rings. It is 7:31h in the morning. I cannot believe I'm doing this to myself. A few minutes later, I force myself out of bed, shower, put on shorts, a polo shirt and shoes and hurry to the appointed meeting place. Steffi and Kalle, the only ones joining me on this trip for some reason, arrive a little later, equally exhausted from the last evening and less than five hours of sleep. We hurry to take a bus and multiple different metro lines to our desired destination: Dobongsan. Nonetheless, we are ten minutes late, but meet up with our German "tour guides", who are here on business for a year, without trouble. We then follow the enormous stream of Korean hikers away from the metro stop into an area full small food and hiking shops on the bottom of the mountain. We are advised to buy some gloves, so we do. I notice for the first time that Steffi, Kalle, Axel and Klaus-Jürgen are all wearing professional hiking shoes as well. Should I be worried? But then again how bad can less than one thousand meter high hills be? I am about to find out...
A few hundred meters later the shopping area ends and we pass a ranger station indicating
the beginning of the national park area. The hiking starts with moderate incline, well-made paths and lots of Koreans surrounding us. At the first intersection, we choose right and this means up. The incline increases substantially, the path is now made of some man-placed rocks and some very naturaly rock. It is about time to put on gloves to be able to use the stone bottom and sticking out roots as handholds. It's wonderful. This is the type of hiking I always enjoyed as a little kid. After about an hour we reach the first view point looking over right at a Buddhist temple complex on another hill across from us. Only last weekend I bought the hand-painted picture of such a landscape and decided to visit an area like this during my stay and there I am. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, even the path has gotten a little less crowed. Around the next turn we see an impressive rock formation and all of us are perfectly happy to be on this beautiful, if slightly more exhausting than expected, hike. My shoes don't give perfect hold on the stones, but it is more than sufficient. A little later we arrive at an area with steel ropes lining the sides of the path. The incline changes dramatically. Upwards. No way to go up without clinging tightly to the rope and aiding the steps by pulling oneself upwards with the arms. This is where I start to really regret my shoes. Not giving perfect hold, especially on slightly wet or smooth rock, I need to lean back more, hold the ropes a bit tighter and press against the rock harder. The thought of slipping scares me quite a bit. All of us make it past this part without severe problems, though. I scratch my knee on a rock - I suddenly seem to be the only person wearing shorts in this area - but it doesn't hurt and only bleeds very little. The path continues as before, but another, even more difficult part is about to come. Luckily, I gained confidence in my abilities and even a little in my shoes, so it has turned into more of a challenge than a danger. Steffi, Kalle and I acknowledge that our parents would probably be more scared than us, if they were to know what we are currently doing. Arriving at the top, sweat is running down our faces and our shirts are drenched. Evidently, this is a rare experience for Steffi and Kalle. We marvel at the fact that still uncounted numbers of Koreans of all ages are coming up the path we took. How 60+ year-olds can handle this climb is beyond us. We believe, that 50% of any German highschool class would probably have given up by now. We climb up a few more nearby hill tops to get a pretty view, but then start heading down. Using yet another steel-cable path along a little creek we eventually make it back to the shopping and eating area after a solid five hours. On the way we even run across another Buddhist temple and take a little detour to get a close look at it. We are dead tired and exhausted, but also extremely happy. We accompany Axel and Klaus-Jürgen to a restaurant they know and eat the first soup, that contains extraordinarily tasty fish - although the head swimming in the soup did make a scary impression at first. A good meal, a few beers with cider (Korean for Sprite) and a bottle of Soju later, we head home completely exhausted and happy. I will definitely do this again, but first I will buy appropriate shoes.

Sports

2008-08-24T19:55:00.000+09:00

To slightly revoke the imression that all we do here is eat, I would like to point out that I've actually been going to the university's fitness center for some training on friday. It is in the same building as the swimming, which I did on tuesday and thursday. However, I do not dare to take my camera into the swimming area. Anyhow, since this was the first time in years I have again visited a fitness studio, it was quite exhausting: cycling, running, dumb-bells, machine training for arms, back, legs and finally sit-ups and stretching. All in all about one and a half hours. It was actually quite fun, too, since we were four people and had some guidance from Johannes, who is a (quite substantial) bit more experienced. After that the friday evening ended rather quiet. Saturday was a day of replenishing fridges, washing clothes, sleeping late etc. until we finally decided to go to Gangnam for some clubbing. It took a while (2+ hrs) to find the clubs we had been told about and the we were then faced with a 20000 Won cover charge. We decided to decline and have some Korean cocktails and Czech beers instead, since some of us had decided to meet up for hiking the next morning at 9:30h beyond the other side of town. It was still a fun evening and it wasn't til 2:30h the next morning that we returned home in quite a good mood. We will deal with the clubbing some other time, when there is no hiking the next day and we no longer have to search for the place. This turned out to be a very good idea...

Birthday party for Kalle

2008-08-21T20:51:00.000+09:00

Today is Kalle's birthday so he is obviously partying with his Korean group somewhere. This left only one choice for us: to party with him until past midnight last night. So we did. Actually, for him it started with a peaceful beer accompanied by Philipp which the rest of us joined 'unexpectedly' a bit later. Then, after moving to a nice Korean beer bar and eating lots of side dishes, a little before midnight Steffi and Mark had to leave for some made-up reason and reappeared with lots of presents and a cake. We sang 'happy birthday' which made every Korean in the bar look at us in amazement and even got us another side dish plate for free. It was a glorius, very beer-heavy and extremely funny evening, that all of us intend to repeat. One of the higlights depicted here was us attempting to eat the birthday cake with chop sticks - amazing thing is, it actually worked really well. Don't worry, I'll buy some chop sticks here, so you can all try this yourself, once I return ;)

Group dinner

2008-08-20T19:33:00.000+09:00

Finally the day arrived that we got to do something with all the Koreans in our group, 'our' referring to Mark and me, who are both working in the same office. Initially there was a vote on what we would like to eat and the options were plentiful ranging from pig stomach to Thai food to duck and more. Luckily, duck - my personal preference - turned out to be the winner. We went to a traditional Korean restaurant, which means sitting on the floor and eating from very low tables. Dinner was brilliant. We got four complete, stuffed ducks for all of us along with the usual assortment of side dishes, most of which were really tasty. Afterwards, we hit the bars for a few drinks. Again, sitting on the floor and low tables. Todays drink: rice wine and varieties thereof accompanied by an exciting assortment of side dishes, of course. I personally had rather bad memories from my last visit, but the wine there was quite decent. Not a minute after the drinks arrived, the drinking games started. The clear objective: get the two German students drunk. Luckily, we can hold ourselves reasonably well and did quite alright in some of the games, too. Nonetheless, we certainly had a few drinks more than most Koreans. Nonetheless it was over too quickly and most decided to go home, about to leave me a tad disappointed that it was only 9 pm and I had been really enjoying the evening. But then luckily, four of them decided to ask us to join them for Karaoke. So off we went. The Karaoke bar featured multiple little rooms with comfortable sofas, multiple tv screens - one of them showing a music video and the lyrics, one the olympic games - and comfortable sofas. It came as it had to and we were absolutely amazed by the skill with which all the Koreans were singing. No matter whether lyrics were Korean or English. Luckily, we were drunk enough to dare to sing anyways, but I'm still afraid that after 'self esteem', 'paint it black', 'my way' and more we caused quite a bit of pain to our host. Although, not nearly as much as some of the people singing in the other rooms caused me on the way to the bathroom ;-)
All in all, the first evening with the group turned out to be lots of fun and I hope there will be more to come...

Cheonggyecheon River

2008-08-20T18:11:00.000+09:00

Another day, another part of Seoul we have not yet visited. According to what we learned, there was initially a little creek running through what one might consider the actual downtown Seoul. To have more land available for more and more skye scrapers and what not, this stream was dried out and filled up. Not too long after, the people regretted this decision, missing the nice little creek, where one could relax listening to the sound of water and children could play. So they decided to rebuild an artificial creek right in the center of some of the most impressive skye scrapers in Seoul. It starts with a waterfall near an event area and runs for quite some time a little below the surrounding crowded streets offering a little bit of quite in an otherwise busy center, that wasn't quite so busy on Sunday. We also learned that while even Johannes and me as blond and tall Germans don't really impress too many Koreans on the street anymore, there is still something that can: a long red-haired girl. Thanks to this, Sibylle immediately got interviewed by a Korean (student) camera team that was scavenging the area. Surprisingly, the new stardom didn't seem to appeal to her all that much.
Due to the clouds in the sky and out everpresent fear of rain, that cannot be warded off by an umbrella, we decided to have a coffee and cake and head back to Nok-Du afterwards. We again took the Insa-dong subway stop, this time coming from the other direction and passing by another traditional Korean building as well as the amazing Jongno (Samsung) tower, featuring a bar and restaurant on top. We actually had wine and beer up inside the Samsung tower the day before after our shopping frenzy, to complete the blow out of money. A beer there cost 14000 - compare that to between two and three thousand, which you'd be paying in Nok-Du. But therefore you have an amazing view over the city, classy live Jazz music, stylish interior (rather mediocre plastic chairs?!?!), a majestic bathroom with yet another amazing view, very nice looking cakes and the best dressed crowd we've seen so far. We were terribly underdressed and decided to return in appropriate suites in the near future to match the Korean guests and the surroundings. For picture of the view you will have to wait til I get them from Johannes. His camera is way more capable of dealing with darkness than mine.

Insa-dong

2008-08-19T21:41:00.000+09:00

Saturday, we were in cultural mood and the weather had significantly improved - at least for the day. So we chose to take a look at the Jogyesa Temple, the main temple of the largest Buddhist community in Seoul, which is also intended to present Buddhism to outsiders. It's quite a beautiful site and one of the few buildings in Seoul, that are strikingly asian in architecture. There was currently a worship going on, so we decided against intruding and instead continued on to the traditional Korean shopping street, also located in Insa-dong. Of course, these kinds of visits always end with lots of green, pretty bills leaving our wallets toward strikingly smiling faces of Korean shop owners. We tried all kinds of little foods, that were prepared in little stands on the street, tasted a handful of different Korean teas and looked at everything from wooden pencil holders, to artsy curtains to chop sticks in every imaginable design. I fell for one of the hand-painted curtains of an asian temple in rough nature, which will certainly look glorious on my wall at home next to the world map and Jessica Alba. We all decided that an areas such as this must be found and visited before leaving here. With darkness slowly falling over Seoul, we moved on to the night-life and dining area a few steps further. We had a typical Korean dinner - not quite as extreme as the octopuss might suggest, though. Afterwards we settled for an extremely American desert: Cold Stone. For all of you who are unaware of what that is: change this as soon as possible. At Cold Stone they mix a variety of soft ice creams with all manners of delicious deserts: brownies, apples, chocolate sauce, orio cookies,... They basicly mush and crush it all together on a cold stone right in front of you (hence the name, in case you hadn't guessed) to create a glorius composition of ice cream you really should try.

Lazy days...

2008-08-18T23:42:00.000+09:00

On Friday there was a national holiday in Korea and since none of us intends to offend Korean traditions, we were unable to work that day. Which meant sleaping late and meeting for an interesting lunch in Nok-Du. We decided to go to a place specializing on the Korean version of 'Maultaschen'. Here they are called 'mandu'. Being six people, with six different undecipherable choices of Mandu, we decided to do it Korean style and ordered everything to share among each other. Should you actually count the dishes on the table, you will notice only six, since I took the picture a bit too early.
Afterwards, we spent some more time being lazy and eventually set out for the COEX Mall, which is certainly among the most classy and most expansive here. This time not for shopping, though, but mainly to see the new Batman movie on a really big screen. On the way there, we got a nice impression on how they clean the skye scrapers here (in the rain!). Anyhow, a lot of other Koreans also decided for the movie option on a rainy friday, so the first one with six seats in a row was at 23:20h, but we took it anyhow. There are actually still movies starting at 3:20h in the morning here, so we figured, it wasn't really the late show anyway. After the movie, so at three in the morning, we had to take a taxi back. It drove for about 30 minutes and cost a magical 15,000 Won, i.e. less than 15 €. If only German taxis were that cheap.

Group lunch

2008-08-14T22:13:00.000+09:00

Today was another one of those really exciting lunches. First, a little bit about our mensa: there are three main floors. On the bottom floor, where we usually eat, is the cheap food for the normal students at 2500 Won per meal (about 1,60 Euros) with three to four different choices. A level up it's only a tad more expansive 3000 or 3500 Won and there are two choices. The very top level has meals for 4500 Won in a really classy looking dining hall with very nice wooden chairs and even an a la carte section (10000+ Won), which only Professors seem to visit. Anyhow, today we went for the upper floor dining area. The meal choices were tofu vs. chicken. Not a difficult decision there. The chicken turned out to be marinated, which might lead the unsuspecting Westerner to believe he would be eating something like chicken nuggets - but no. Lo and behold, underneath the cover the chicken was pretty much intact - bones, skin, meat and some sort of spicy sauce. So far so good, but how to eat a marinated chicken with chop sticks? Our Korean host elegantly parted the meat from the bones using the chop sticks to pull and cut everything apart, or to lift it and just take a bite. Most did the former, which I was completely incapable of, so I did the latter. Still, it was a difficult time for me and Mark, that I judged to be worthy of pictures. Every time we managed to eat some of the meat it was quite rewarding, though.
Afterwards - seemingly my office mates and group members were in luxurious mood - everyone had ice cream. Except for me, who declared this day and tuesday a sports day without sweets but with swimming. Instead, I used the opportunity to take a nice ice-eating picture of all of them. On my way back to the institute, I also had the opportunity to take a picture of the empty seminar room, which is usually either occupied by important meetings or dark and looked. But it's really nice as you can see. The respective group leader or professor sits at the head of the table with the students in the circle surrounding him and usually one lucky guy giving a presentation.

Rainy days

2008-08-13T19:18:00.000+09:00

In all honesty, I must say I haven't seen a single completely rainy day so far, however: if it rains, it pours and pours loads of water. To give a wonderful example, before all of us got anywhere near Seoul downtown last weekend, such a downpour began. All we had to cover were maybe one or two hundred meters from the bus stop to the metro, but it was certainly enough to have all of us drenching wet - even those 'lucky' enough to bring an umbrella. Unwilling to waste over an hour to go back home and change, but also certain to catch a cold in the air-conditioned subway with our wet shirts, we found a third option: buying completely new shirts at a nearby outlet mall. Of course, it had already stopped raining and would never do so again the entire day, so check out our group with all but one of us newly clothed. Actually a very awesome idea, because we got extremly nice sports t-shirts 50% off the already fairly decent price.
Another thing that always strikes me about Seoul is that at seemingly every corner, awe-inspiring skye scrapers rise up in rather unimpressive areas. The most astonishing part about the buildings here, even the ones we stay in, is that they are made largely of marble. In our houses this holds for the staircases, for many sky scrapers the entire fassade is made of it. In Germany it seems to be present only in the most classy hotels and even there only on the inside. Is marble cheap and common here? I will have to look into that.

Park mall & Namdaemun market

2008-08-10T21:51:00.000+09:00

This weekend we yet again plunged right into the heart of shopping in Seoul by visiting two of the most famous, but utterly different places. Shopping centers, such as the park mall reach unrivaled sizes here and nine stories can easily be expected. Ideally including food courts and entertainment areas. Part of the Park mall is a gigantic electronics center - whatever you cannot buy there is either outdated or nonexistant. Awesome. Korea also seems to take a slightly different approach to legal issues compared to Germany. You can actually buy 4 burnt CDs for roughly 10 Euros here featuring movies that are currently running in US cinema. The new Batman, for example.
Before continuing onward to a completely different shopping experience, I picked up my Korean home gawn, that I had ordered last weekend in Itaewon. While trying it on, everyone else decided, this would be a great opportunity to take a picture. After this experience, I decided to rule out modeling as a future career option ;-)
Second major place for shopping this weekend was Namdaemun market, which is an enormous maze of tiny alleys filled with little stores and market stands filled with anything from clothes to shoes to fish to vegetables to pottery to...

Sports & eating

2008-08-10T21:12:00.000+09:00

To begin making some progress on my plan of losing some weight in Korea, I decided just eating Korean style might not suffice to do the trick - especially with all the Dunkin Donuts and ice cream places around. So we decided to go swimming in the sports center on campus, wich is a rather impressive ellipsoidal building. However, our attempt was hindered by the fact, that you had to wear a swim cap to enter. Luckily, such a large sports facility includes a little store selling such things. I also figured you might enjoy the beauty of it as much as the others, so I put a picture of me & Steffi wearing the forsaken thing.
Also, I decided to give a little insight on how in the world we manage to order food in the restaurants here, because waitors and waitresses aren't usually the most skilled in English and neither are we in Korean. Also, do not believe that all menus are translated - this is only the case in the bigger ones or in the tourist areas. Most contain English titles and advertisements here and there, but that is usually it. Luckily, Koreans love pictures and show cases. So in front of many upper scale restaurants - but also the school cafeteria - there are usually show cases containing the offered meals. Theses are either aritificial, such as in the picture, or just a plate with the food of the day, such as in the dining hall, where it changes every day. Inside, one may then consult the menus, which usually also contain lots pictures. Whether the fried stuff in the picture represents chicken, shrimp, squid or worse is a slightly more complicated matter, however.

Arrival of DAAD students

2008-08-09T15:17:00.000+09:00

So it's finally a week that I've been in Korea and five DAAD students form Mainz are about to arrive in Seoul for a six to seven month stay. But before I got to meet them, my colleagues decided to order some food. I was given the choice between noodles in soup and noodles with red sauce, which were described as very spicy. I leave it to you to guess what I chose, despite not being the biggest fan of Korean soups. A little later, we all gather in one of the offices and I'm given a large metal bowl, that is ice cold. And so was the soup inside. If you look at the picture closely, you might actually see some of the ice blocks floating around in it... In the center there is the Korean version of a 'Maultasche', which is actually really good. A few were delivered along with the meals, because we had ordered so much. There is was also a piece of meat, half an egg and stripes of pear along with countless noodles.
After meeting up with the students, setting up their housing and going shopping for bed stuff, we hit the bars for a first traditional dinner. Therefore, we set on the floor and had Korean barbeque again. Note that Hyoseon cuts the porc with a pair of scissors. It's the first time since I got here, that we also drink 'soju' again, a typical Korean liquor with about 20% alcohol. Another really nice thing about Korea is that you shouldn't really drink alcohol alone, because someone else should fill your glass for you. This is the part were I learn to enjoy being the oldest of the German students, which in Korea is equivalent to having a higher status, i.e.: if one of them pours me a beer he must do so with both hands, while I may hold my cup with one hand. If I pour it for them, I may again do so with one hand, while they should use both to hold their cup. Wonder how many other 'benefits' I will get to enjoy here because of this... Happy to be able to stretch our legs again after dinner, we decide to hit one of the beer bars and enjoy another fruit plate before calling it a night. Seated around the table are four of the DAAD student along with me and Johannes, all making the typical 'v' sign, that Koreans make whenever there is a camera around. Most of the Korean students had to return either to their labs or their wives prior to this moment ;-)
Btw: I am afraid that if you want to see the interesting part of 'language lessons' you will have to install Korean language support files. At least my windows shows only question marks, while Linux actually displays Hangeul, but I obviously installed the required files there to run my keyboard.

Small corrections

2008-08-08T09:55:00.000+09:00

It seems a lot of people misunderstood my post about the self-cleaning bathroom as a mystical new technology, designed with people like me in mind, who truly dislike cleaning by themselves. Sadly, this is not the case. What I was trying to say is, that every time I shower, the entire bathroom ends up wet - see the attached picture and you will understand why. The truly positive part about this is, that mirror and toilet are also reasonably clean again every morning. I also managed to finally fall into the trap, I already noticed the first day - check the post, if you forgot. After coming home after the usual beer with Johannes, I just wanted to wash my hands. But instead of turning on the faucet, the water was still set to go to the shower head - and since the shower head is always aimed straight at the one turning on the water, I ended up quite a bit more wet than expected. Although my hands were still reasonably dry. Don't ask about my clothes. By the way: if you ever have questions or comments, please feel free to use the 'comments' option.
I also decided to show you the awesome bookstore I walked by yesterday on my quest for dinner. Certainly, a very efficient design for storage...

Language lessons

2008-08-07T20:34:00.001+09:00

As you can probably imagine, the chairs and desks in my room as well as in my office weren't exactly designed with me in mind. To prevent being completely hunched over my laptop all the time, I decided to get a usb keyboard and in the campus store this meant: a Korean keyboard. It's actually pretty much the english one but you can switch to type in Hangeul, the Korean phonemic alphabet. All I can write so far though is my name: 톨스텐. And for all of you interested in writing me, here is my address: 서울시 관악구 신림9동 1520-7호 5/5. Good luck :-)
The stone with the Korean symbols is located near the dining hall on campus. It probably reads something like 'do not walk down here', because the long flight of steps next to it, which I obviously walked down only led to a fence and to me having to walk all the way up again...

Little differences

2008-08-07T09:43:00.000+09:00

An interesting little difference I encountered so far is the counting. The girls in my office were curious about my age and after I told them, I asked them about their age (this is not impolite in Korea, since age is a necessary information to judge the status of a person here, as far as I understand). Anyhow the response was: "My Korean age is..." Reason being, that upon birth your age is one in Korea. So a 28-year-old Korean is 27 according to European counting. Similarly, the ground floor of buildings is the 1st floor. So while my office would be on the 3rd floor in Europe, it's on the 4th here.
Finally, I am currently drinking a "Japanese apricot" juice - quite tasty as a matter of fact. Since I couldn't read what it was, my office mates used the Korean version of Google to figure out the English name and played a sound file reading it out loud. That's what I call service :-)
All in all the workdays start early, end late and are pretty exhausting. Once back in Nok-Du (or so, i.e.: my part of town), I usually meet Joahnnes for a beer in one of infinitely many seeming bars to share the latest news of the day. Two of the pictures show Nok-Du, once around 7 p.m. and once when it's dark. One can say that Koreans like flashy signs, that's for sure... And no, it is not a very exceptional quarter.
The last picture is of a probably artificial, but very nice, litte pond on campus. I decided to go nearby for some suntanning after lunch, but alas another European decided to interrupt my plans. He was actually really nice and I figured this might be a good thing, but he turned out to be one of Jehova's witnesses. Already my second encounter with 'missionaries' here. Last time a Korean woman invited me to her Christian church on the bus. Wonder why they are all so interested in Europeans. Anyhow, the relaxing pretty much turned into taking a picture and then going back to work. Tomorrow five German DAAD students will arrive here to stay for 7 months. Can't wait to see their reaction to the "cultural shock", which is certainly more substantial than when travelling inside Europe :-)

Tales from SNU

2008-08-05T22:26:00.000+09:00

SNU stands for Seoul National University, my current work place. My office is in a very modern building - there really aren't any primitive or old ones anywhere on campus - with a nice brick & window panel architecture. The dining hall is a beautiful white building with a glass entrance, which leads to the stories of the day: eating in Korean dining halls. At first glance it's not so different: choose your meal, buy a voucher, get a tray, get the food, sit, eat. But then there is the soup. Usually very clear, either with sea weed or other stuff. I wasn't truly thrilled and was a bit surprised that every single Korean took one. But hardly anyone ate it, most ate a little or nothing. Near the end, the Koreans start pooring all their left-overs into the soup. Seemed like a good idea to me, since with a bit rice and meat in it, it might actually taste better. Note at this point that the main dishes were really tasty so far. But no, turns out it's just the 'trash can'. You're actually in trouble if you didn't take one, since at the tray return every plate has to be empty except for the food bowl. So on we go in single file to a place with tons of metal cups near the exit. Everyone takes one, fills it with water at a machine a step further, drinks it and returns it to a tray yet another step down. Then everyone leaves through the exit, not ever really having stopped walking. Luckily there are water dispensers everywhere giving you free, cold, good water. In my office, I just push my chair back a bit and get some of it. Glorious. And free.

Itaewon and 1st work day

2008-08-04T22:16:00.000+09:00

Sunday was about finally setting up the computer appropriately, i.e. downloading & installing Skype as well as finally getting the room organized by fully unpacking my stuff, buying a trash can etc. Once that was done, Johannes and I went to Itaewon, the foreign quarter of Seoul with loads of foreigners (that's one western tourist out of a hundred, of course there may be plenty of asian tourists). Anyways, lots of gift shops, antique shops, custom taylors, clothing stores etc. all on basicly one street. Most importantly: finally a place to eat real German food (no, we did not try it, but they do have sausages and Weizen). We did interview some taylors regarding price and got answers ranging from 200 to 600 € for custom made suits made from all kinds of materials. Since it was impossible for us to tell, what was a really good cloth or deal, we postponed the decision. But buying something custom made here (in Korea not necessarily in Itaewon) is definitely worth a thought. Monday I had my first day of work. I decided to be there early and ended up being 2nd in the office of eight. A bit earlier and I wouldn't have been able to get in. Not doing that tomorrow ;-)
Applied for an access pass and installed the important programs on my laptop at my desk (see picture). Survived my first day in "mensa" with rice and shrimps. Not as much food per person here as in Mainz. Might manage to lose some pounds here after all. Met with my boss and noticed that this visit might be quite a bit of work. We shall see. Probably less pictures and stuff the rest of the week, but you never know...

Shopping attempts

2008-08-03T01:43:00.000+09:00

This day started by getting up late - I'm not intending to spoil any good old traditions in Korea - and with the intention of buying a towel, a blanket and a pillow - don't ask how I managed to sleep without either, but it wasn't as hard as I would've thought. Finding a pillow near my place for 3 € only was easy, but shops selling blankets in Seoul seem to be as easy to find as diamonds in deserts. My first attempt to get cash using my credit card also blatently failed, yielding me a receipt with lots of Korean writing, a large sum of money written on it (they us the same numbers here) and no money whatsoever. Johannes explained to me he had made the same utterly distressing transaction before and that getting cash required a global ATM. So ccompanied me to the Hyundai mall, one of the larger ones in Seoul, where - after two more unsuccessful attempts - I finally got some cash. Satisfied, we ate first. I chose something resembling an omlette, but called differently and filled with rice, while he went for a soup filled with something comparable to omlette. The mall was extremly nice, huge and - especially for Korean standards - expensive, but sold no blankets anywhere. We eventually found some in one of the higher floors of the attached department store, but they cost way over 100€, which led us to surrender all hope in that mall. On our search, we came across a nice bar, where loads of Koreans spent their time surfing on classy laptops with their friends, while seated on comfortable sofas. Later on, while having a quick drink, we ran into an American living in Korea, who explained to me how to get to a little market where blankets could be bought at a reasonable price. On my way there, I encountered a weird building, which appeared to be cut in half by forest. Don't ask what it was, I don't know ;-)
After a bit of searching I then found the recommended store, whose owners were - of course - on vacation. Thanks to some exciting discussions with Koreans in sign language more than any other I found another store and ended up paying 15€ for my blanket.
Satisfied, I returned home and met Johannes again to have a beer and one of those amazing fruit platters, which they serve to accompany it. The local beer isn't stunning, but certainly better than any brewed in the US :-)
A promising thing to know before going to bed...

Korea - day one

2008-08-01T22:04:00.000+09:00

After an uneventful eleven hour flight, I eventually land in Seoul at 4 a.m. European time (that's 1 p.m. in Korea). Luckily, the weather is less hot and less humid than expected, but probably only since it was pretty extreme in Mainz before take-off. It is another 1.5 hour drive to the university, where I introduce myself, attend the group seminar,look at my new work place and change money in a nearby bank, all before going to my new home.
I exchanged a mere 1,000 € to receive 1.5 million won in 150 (!!!) 10,000 won bills, which I then give to my landlord covering the rent of the first month and the deposit. The building I live in is really classy, as is the room itself, while pretty small but nice. Notice the step in the entrance area of the room, which is typically Korean and may not be surpassed with shoes on. This already lead to some minor complications, since most Koreans wear sandals or other shoes that are easy to take off, while it always takes me quite some time, forcing everyone to wait whenever exiting or entering a new flat. Finally, I get to take a shower in one of the most 'interesting' bathrooms I've seen in a while. How one is supposed to keep towel, door and toilet paper dry while showering is a mystery to me. At least the bathroom is self-cleaning and there are nice surprises when one forgets to switch between faucet and shower head... Afterwards, I decide to meet up with Johannes (another IRTG student here) and go out for dinner, since I'm way past tired anyways. We end up in an all-you-can-eat Korean grill place, with me sticking to the rather traditional types of meat and remembering that Kimchi and Soy bean sprouts are quite spicy. After that, I end my first exhausting but exciting day in Seoul.